Project Life: The Stuff

Project Life has been coming along for me, although I have gotten behind (only one week behind now! Woohoo!) I don't love feeling "behind" in scrapbooking, but I do love having a record of the little things we do each week. Jury's out on Project Life until the end of the year, I think:)

But in the meantime, I do want to share the things I use on each Project Life spread. In the interests of convenience, I've been using the Design A page protecters for each week, along with the Clementine kit (I mostly use the journaling cards).

For each spread I create a "title card" and use this fun Smash rolly stamp:

And then I use tons of label stickers as captions for the photos:

I also love to add fun bits of washi tape:

And staples from my beloved Tiny Attacher!  (I'm generally not a tool person, but you need this one--trust me.)

Here's an example of a weekly page (I only do one side--keeping it simple, folks!)

And sometimes I like to mix it up with atypical embellishments. I was feeling nostalgic about E's moving up a size (goodbye, newborn ensembles--sniff sniff!) so I took a bunch of her tags and added some confetti and sewed them into a page protecter.  It adds something different and some color and I love it!

So there you have it--my Project Life as of right now. Do YOU get that "behind" feeling from PL? If so, how do you shake it?

A Friday layout for ya...

This has been on heck of a week--S has been working late, which hasn't been leaving a whole lot of time for eating dinner, let alone scrapbooking or blogging. I'm even almost 3 weeks behind in Project Life, which stresses me out, even though I promised myself I wouldn't let this project stress me out! Ack.  

But I did find a few extra minutes to share  a layout I created a few months ago about Summer CHA. Hard to believe we're almost at another summer CHA!

Here's a close-up:

And the whole enchilada:

And now, I'm off.....for a Shabbos spent snuggling my munchkin, actually eating dinner with my husband, and (hopefully) finishing my book!  Speaking of which, I'm thinking about doing a post explaining what exactly we do all day on Shabbos--any interest in that?

What are YOU wishing you had time for today?

When your heart is Broken (thinking about infertility)

If you haven't yet, please read this article. I wish I had it to pass around when I was going through infertility.  Reading it took me right back to what that time felt like,and reminded me what comments were comforting and what were painful to hear.  And the whole don't-tell-me-to-just-relax thing? AMEN.

One of the toughest adjustments I had to make in my pregnancy was to figure out how to relate to my "infertility buddies"--to back off? to offer support? to explain what worked for me in a helpful way, but not a boastful way? to not mention the baby at all? I still don't exactly know how to navigate this.  If you know me and we discuss this issue, please don't be afraid to tell me what you need, and what helps or hurts you. Because I would never, ever want to add to your pain.

I shared this layout a long time ago, but I pulled it out again today because it's all there. The pain and the bitterness and the longing of those days, the sadness each and every month.

Are you going through infertility? If so, what would YOU add to this article? And if you love someone going through this, how do YOU handle it?

Back with a layout!

This past week was our first "regular life" week, with S back at work after paternity leave and me doing drop-off and pick-up all by myself. Oh, and watching the little one on my own at night while S works late. Let's just say I'm pretty proud of myself of making this far into the week without any crying!

I had a post up on the Write. Click. Scrapbook. blog yesterday about photographing babies. Go here to check it out!

Speaking of baby photos, I finally made E-bear's one month layout. Here's a little sneak. . . .


And the full shindig:

I had fun using my most favorite color combination, yellow + pink + aqua. = bliss in my mind:)

And I just had Ellie's 2 month photoshoot last week, even though (true confessions time) it's really and 2 and a half month photoshoot. Oops.

She was very pumped to celebrate the two month mark:



And possibly a little perplexed as well.



So tell me, what's YOUR favorite color combination?

Somebody....

is smiling now!

(Photo taken by my little sis)

Be back soon with some fun projects!

Layout and Pesach Bonanaza

Passover is still going on and we have been enjoying the time together! I've been off this week and little E has started to become acquainted with her "baby school," which I'll talk more about in a later post if y'all are interested. I have a lot of feelings about sending her to someone else's care, but I do think this is the best arrangement for us for now, and I'm trying to follow my "one little word" and actually take things one day at a time.

I wanted to share some older layouts today that have been sitting around gathering dust. This first layout is about the different seasons in life--at the time I created it, I was struggling with infertility and job-hunting. Now I have a baby and a job, so the season has definitely shifted!

There's a pull-out pocket containing more journaling. Man, I love those Lullaby thickers. Need about 700 more packs.

This next layout is about one of the items on my unofficial "bucket list," which is writing a book. One day, one day. Maybe when E starts napping?

This last layout documents our "second wedding." See, we were that unorganized couple that realized two days before our wedding that we needed to fill out forms and all for our religious ceremony to be legally valid. Oops. Add to that the fact that it's considered a special thing in Judaism to not see each other the week before your wedding (maybe it's a "protect the groom" maneuver--ha!), and I didn't want to risk losing any specialness, so we decided to just do a second wedding at City Hall after our first wedding.

Sounds like a great plan, but just try to get married in the 3 days before the deadline for filing taxes jointly. Long lines, people. But nevertheless, we got civilly married, jeans skirt and all.

I used Lawn Party, my most favorite Studio Calico kit to date, on this one. Yum.

Before I go, I wanted to answer a few Passover questions. Many of you wanted to know what's up with all the tinfoil. Basic answer is that the surfaces you eat and prepare food on during the year aren't kosher for Passover. So unless you get all new countertops (which might not be the worst idea, come to think of it....) you just cover up the surfaces with foil, and you have yourself a nice and kosher, albeit spaceship-looking, kitchen for Passover. We block off cabinets and fridge shelves so that we don't accidentally eat something tasty looking that's probably better than matza:) And we do keep special dishes and platters and everything just for Passover.

And before I really go, I couldn't leave you without a picture of the munckin. Here she is looking all business with her stuffed bear. Oh my heavens.

So tell me, how many old layouts do YOU have lying around?

Grateful for her

Hello again, everyone, and Happy Passover/Easter! We enjoyed the seders with our families and little E got a lot of love and attention from all of her grandparents. We're a bit concerned that she'll now expect song-and-dance routines for hours on end from us:)

I'm a few days into April here, and our theme this month at Write. Click. Scrapbook. is "thankful." When I thought about what I'm grateful for, the first thing that came to mind is my little girl. I put together this layout using a Studio Calico kit:

(Please excuse the photo. I've been meaning to rephotograph this for weeks, but life has gotten away from me! Luckily I'm off for Passover this week and hope to get a semblance of order.)

The journaling reads: 2 years of infertility treatments. 8 Clomid cycles. 1 IUI procedure. 14 long days of waiting for the result. 9 months of pregnancy (well, 9.5). 11 hours of labor. 45 minutes of pushing. And you? You were worth every second.

I love this layout. When I was trying to have a baby, I imagined creating a layout like this one day to document the waiting, and I can't believe that day is here. It was so, so hard. But so completely worth it.

What are YOU thankful for today? Also, check out the WCS gallery right here for more inspiration.

Four days away....

We are now a mere FOUR days away from Passover, or Pesach as it's called in Hebrew. Four days, people.

Why do I keep emphasizing the length of time? Because this is quite possibly the craziest time of year for Jewish families. We go through all of our food, organize it into "kosher for Pesach," "not kosher for Pesach" and "really not kosher for Pesach," which is basically anything like bread and crackers (that we then get rid of). We clean our entire house top to bottom, and scrub our kitchens to make them kosher for Passover cooking. We also spend a little bit of time dreaming of the wonders of matza pizza and those awesome toffee-bar-things I made last year. Mmmmm.

source

After that, we cover our entire kitchen and dining area with tinfoil and block off all of the cabinets that we aren't going to use for the holiday. We haul out the storage bins that contain measuring spoons, platters, spices, oven mitts, and everything else we used for Pesach last year.


We pull out the haggadahs we use at the Passover seder, especially the one I use, which has the most detailed illustrations.



To top if off, S and I are doing all of the food shopping for the seders and holiday meals, and I'm trying to get the munchkin and myself outfitted in nice springy clothes for the synagogue.

And did I mention all of this needs to get done in the next four days?

We did take a few minutes to re-watch The Prince of Egypt.



Have you seen it? It always reminds me of the purpose behind the holiday. I love the scene where everyone walks out of Egypt towards the desert, awed by the events of the day, cautious in their new freedom. It reminds me of the miracles I've seen in my own life.


So if I'm a bit scarce in the next few days, you know why. And if YOU have any questions about Passover (or if you have no clue about half the things I'm talking about), feel free to ask!